For the Joy of the Journey

So Much To Think About

George October 26, 2022 Notes Anthology 0 Comments

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Deception
The penalty of deception is to become a deception, with all sense of moral discrimination vitiated. A man who lies habitually becomes a lie, and it is increasingly impossible for him to know when he is lying and when he is not.” Howard Thurman

Spiritual Abuse
Spiritual abuse is a form of emotional and psychological abuse. It is characterized by a systematic pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour in a religious context Spiritual abuse can have a deeply damaging impact on those who experience it. This abuse may include: manipulation and exploitation, enforced accountability, censorship of decision making, requirements for secrecy and silence, coercion to conform, [inability to ask questions] control through the use of sacred texts or teaching, requirement of obedience to the abuser, the suggestion that the abuser has a ‘divine’ position, isolation as a means of punishment, and superiority and elitism.
Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys

Culture War
In America, we don’t discover who we are so much as we choose an identity from a set of prepackaged, audience-tested options. Since most Americans identify according to their political party first and foremost, pretty much everything else about us flows from that partisan selection. If you’re a Democrat, you’ve got a certain selection of causes, movies, public figures, musicians and organizations to root for. If you’re a Republican, you get an alternate set.

If all the opposing forces you’ve been commanded to take up arms against were to suddenly vanish, you would have little left: no actual opinions, no concrete strategy for building a better world, no idea what purpose you serve outside of owning the libs or the cons.

This is what life is like in the culture war, a draft which few Americans have successfully dodged. We are all soldiers now, and any part of our daily life can be construed as an attack. Why wouldn’t it be? This is a war. In a war, no action can be taken for granted.

This is an extraordinarily bad way to be in the world, with our lives a cobbled together mess of memes, algorithms, partisan talking points and blinding hated of total strangers based on scant information. But it’s a very easy way to be in the world. You don’t have to form any actual opinions or think deeply about what you want to build. You can just run with the package of opinions that comes with whoever you vote for and leave it at that.
The important thing to realize is that there are no winners here. There can’t be.

There is an alternative, but it’s not easy. It involves laying down arms in the culture war and taking up a fight against not each other, but the princes and principalities of this world. Instead of resisting each other, we must start resisting the forces and institutions pitting us against each other. Instead of fighting our fellow humans, we fight the ideologies that compel us towards fear and hatred.
https://relevantmagazine.com/current/nation/there-are-no-winners-in-a-culture-war/

Just to be clear. When Christians say “Jesus is Lord”, we are not celebrating love of power, but the power of love to redeem, transform and renew that which is lost, broken and hopeless.
Jim Gordon

Misconceptions
It is important to read and listen carefully. I found this commentary about New York City subway systems to be a good example.

New York City’s subway system has been in the news a lot lately, and not in a good way. There have been several cases of violent assault, including people being pushed onto the tracks, and the number of murders in the system has been far higher this year than in past years. This is even as the overall murder rate in New York City finally seems to be declining from its pandemic high. These incidents have been terrible, and officials are right to see them as a reason to step up police presence and video surveillance.

After reading that factual report, as an outsider, I would be very reluctant to use the subway in NYC. Reading further, I gained a much different perspective.

Attacks in subway cars or on subway platforms during rush hour are an extreme example. When I say that we’ve had a record number of murders this year, that number is nine so far, on a system that even postpandemic often carries more than 3.5 million passengers each workday. Overall, the subway remains far safer than other forms of transportation. Indeed, one reason New York City is much safer overall than small-town or even suburban America is that far fewer people die in traffic accidents.

It is true:
cases of violent assault, including people being pushed onto the tracks, and the number of murders in the system has been far higher this year than in past years.
But it’s not reality:
Yes there have been nine murders on NYC subways this year, a worthwhile concern, but reality is: riding the subway in NYC is safer than driving from Wilmore to Lexington.

If we obey Jesus only when the culture is neutral enough to allow us to do so and still win on our own terms, then Jesus is not Lord and we are not his disciples—he is our disciple and we are his lord. And if we must adopt anti-Christlike character to win Christian victories over a secular culture, then perhaps we should wonder what’s gone wrong. When the centurions start to look more valiant than the crucified, then maybe our culture wars have taken us away from the Cross and toward something else.
Russell Moore

STILL ON THE JOURNEY

So Much To Think About

George October 18, 2022 Notes Anthology 0 Comments

If you were based at Camp Lejeune between 1953 to 1987, for heavens sake PLEASE call 1-800-750-9511. Stop the madness.

Touchdown moments
There is nothing ordinary about the key claims of biblical faith. Indeed, there is almost nothing about biblical faith that can be understood according to our usual analytical, scientific, objective, or commonsense control of life. The Bible is, rather, organized around the explosive moments when the holiness of God touches down in our midst and changes everything. Such touchdown moments are not sweet and romantic. They are not pious and religious. Rather, they are moments of threat and risk, when our worlds are shattered and everything is changed (Collected Sermons, 65).
Walter Brueggemann

‘Tolerance does not mean the absence of debate and division, but the ability of people with differences to live side-by-side together without seeking to harm each other.” Michael Bird

Clichés
A glib “I have the answers” spirit makes us into protectors of clichés. Answers are wonderful when they are true and keep us on the human and spiritual path. But answers are not wonderful when they become something we hold as an ego possession, allowing us to be arrogant, falsely self-assured, and closed down individuals.
Only those led by the Spirit into ever deeper seeing, hearing, and surrendering—spiritual seekers and self-questioners—will fall into the hands of the living God. This will always be “a narrow gate and a hard road” that “only a few will walk” (Matthew 7:14).
Richard Rohr

Trust grows out of, and into, our relationship with God, forming bonds of love, trust, hopefulness and purpose. God’s mercy is not a guarantee against storms at sea, but of God’s presence in the boat.
“Lord, have mercy. The sea is so vast, and my boat is so small.”
Jim Gordon

How many of the world’s 1-year-old children today have been vaccinated against some disease?
A: 20 percent B: 50 percent C: 80 percent

I have tested a total of 12,596 people at 108 lectures over the last five years. This question gets the worst results.

Correct answer is 80%

You make this kind of false assumption when you have a “them” category in your head, into which you put the majority of humanity. What images are you using to imagine what life is like in this category? Are you perhaps recalling the most vivid and disturbing images from the news?

Rosling, Hans; Rönnlund, Anna Rosling; Rosling, Ola. Factfulness (pp. 148-149). Flatiron Books. Kindle Edition.

Prophesy
Christianity has given little energy to prophecy, which Paul identifies as the second most important charism for building the church (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11). Too often, when Christians talk about prophecy, we think prophets make predictions about the future. In fact, prophets say exactly the opposite! They insist the future is highly contingent on the now. They always announce to the people of Israel that they have to make a decision now. You can go this way and the outcome of events will undo you or you can return to God, to love, and to the covenant. That’s not predicting the future as much as it’s naming the now, the way reality works. The prophet opens up human freedom by daring to tell the people of Israel that they can change history by changing themselves. That’s extraordinary, and it’s just as true for us today.
I’d like to put it this way: it is not that we go out preaching hard and difficult messages, and then people mistreat and marginalize us for being such prophets (although that might happen). Rather, when we go to the stories of the prophets and of Jesus himself, we discover the biblical pattern is just the opposite! When we find ourselves wounded and marginalized, and we allow that suffering to teach us, we can become prophets. When we repeatedly experience the faithfulness, the mercy, and the forgiveness of God, then our prophetic voice emerges. That’s the training school. That’s where we learn how to speak the truth.
Richard Rohr

Hypocrisy
Time and again, when our commitment to morality collides with our self-interest, then our self-interest wins. A religion of morality devolves to a religion of self. It’s powerless against our pride. But when a commitment to self collides with Jesus, then it’s our pride that’s powerless. We know exactly where our hope lies. David French
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/frenchpress/how-hypocrisy-drives-unbelief/

View from the front porch
The recent news report about the rescue of 4,000 beagles revealed the troubling, heart-wrenching paradoxical nature of our culture.

On one hand, there was the horrendous for-profit dog breeding business:
Built in 1961, the breeding operation featured 27 long, low-slung metal buildings used for whelping and housing about 5,000 beagles in cages and cement runs. The campus had its own waste water treatment plant and incinerator, one full-time veterinarian and about 25 employees. It became the nation’s second-largest breeder of what the industry calls “purpose-bred canines.”
“Research on dogs has, and continues to lead to, life-preserving and enhancing treatments in the areas of diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, organ transplantation,”
…more than a hundred federal and state officials, law enforcement officers, rescue volunteers and veterinarians arrived at Envigo with a search warrant. Over five days, they seized health records, computers, and 446 beagles — about 10 percent of the facility’s dogs — who were suffering life-threatening illnesses or injuries.

On the other hand, there was the response of concerned people:

The public fascination with the Envigo beagles was instantaneous. Thousands of people across the country wanted them.

In Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Humane Society set off a frenzy when it announced that it would put a litter of Envigo puppies up for adoption on a Tuesday morning in early August.

Identical twins from Southern California were the first in line.

The 31-year-old sisters had flown to Milwaukee and shown up at the shelter at 3 a.m., carrying a new tent that they couldn’t figure out how to set up.

“We have been stalking all the rescue groups,” explained Christine Fan, who — like her twin Chrisdo — worked as a real estate attorney in Irvine, Calif., about 15 minutes from Disneyland. “We booked a one-way red-eye flight here.”

All of the beagles have been placed in over 120 rescue facilities across the country.

http://www.georgeezell.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Envigos-4000-beagles-rescued-in-record-Humane-Society-animal-welfare-seizure-The-Washington-Post.pdf

Things this old man thinks about – Ideograph

George October 14, 2022 Things this old man thinks about 1 Comment

Recently introduced to ideograph, I’ve been giving them some thought. I am of the opinion understanding and awareness of ideographs can be helpful in navigating our rhetorically contentious culture. Here are some quotes and references to introduce ideograph:

An ideograph is a word or phrase with a vague definition which represents an ambiguous and vast set of ideas. This causes ideographs to be able to be used without sending a specific message while still appealing to pathos. In other words, when audiences encounter an ideograph, they aren’t usually affected by it because of its definition, but because of how the ideograph makes them feel. This means ideographs can be very useful for rhetoricians because of their ambiguity. Not only can they be used as substitutes for complex ideas, but since ideographs tend to have several different connotations attached to them, they have the potential to increase the effectiveness of a rhetorician’s pathos. http://webservices.itcs.umich.edu/mediawiki/DigitalRhetoricCollaborative/index.php/Ideograph

Since it’s election season, you’re probably reading a ton of stories about Politician X appealing to Voting Bloc Y with Z-ish rhetoric. Journalists, political strategists and even politicians themselves deliver much of this information in a kind of code — terms and phrases that show up only in coverage of politics. Here’s a guide to the election-speak — and a plea to move on from it.
The bias in the use of these terms isn’t the only problem with them. They are vague. Their meanings are not universally shared. They often obscure more than they explain (perhaps intentionally).
I suspect that lack of clarity is why some people like using these terms. Slamming wokeness allows people to oppose left-wing views on very fraught issues without spelling out their specific objections.
But if you’re a reporter or just a regular voter, you don’t have to speak in code. Say what you actually mean.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/19/decoding-political-phrases-midterms-perry-bacon/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F37f73d3%2F632894f9f3d9003c58e23fb4%2F61a4ce85ae7e8a03b1f82fec%2F18%2F72%2F632894f9f3d9003c58e23fb4&wp_cu=d1cc33a327617bdd69d13a9762f694bf%7CD1EDE88A6B5E09BEE0530100007FDA27

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideograph_(rhetoric)

Four defining characteristics of ideographs; These include:1) they are ordinary language terms in political discourse;2) they are high order abstractions representing collective commitment; 3) they warrant the use of power, guiding inappropriate behavior into acceptable channels; and 4) they are culture bound.
McGee,Michael Calvin.“The‘Ideograph’:A Link Between Rhetoric and Ideology.”Quarterly Journal?of Speech?60:1(February 1980)
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=communication_theses

Ideographs are mostly associated with political rhetoric, both historically and currently. They are used in any rhetorical context where the goal is persuasion. As a tool of persuasion, ideographs avoid arduous and often painful work of intimate, meaningful communication. Perfectly suited to a culture characterized by ambiguity, relativity and utility, they have metastasized into most arenas of communication, religious, business, personal, et al; rhetorical critics use chevrons or angle brackets (<>) to mark off ideographs. Ideographs can positive and negative.
Interestingly, emojis and memes are digital surrogates for ideographs.

Emojis are ideographic; meaning that they represent ideas or concepts that are independent of a specific human language. Like road signs or warning notices at swimming pools or tourist locations, these attempt to communicate concepts that are language-neutral and can be understood by anyone.

Here are some ideographs used in political rhetoric:
* Liberty
* Freedom
* Justice
* Terrorism
* Rule of law
*Fidelity
* Equality
* Progressive
*Liberal
Some religious rhetoric ideographs:
* Unity
* Faithfulness
*Biblical
*Inerrant
* Love everyone
Ideographs in conversation:
Employing ideographs in conversations is not unlike TV ads for prescription drugs, beautiful, promising but vague. Perhaps the most used ideographic word is LOVE. Not to imply that using love is a bad thing, the point is that it has become an ideograph, as such, it is devoid of meaning “used without sending a specific message while still appealing to pathos” Casual expressions of love, though sweet (it’s nice to be nice), are meaningless, absent relational connection.

Ideographs are rhetorically effective, tapping into the ethos of an audience; they produce emotional allegiance without substance; catalyst for mob mentality.

In personal communication, ideographs can impede conversation. For example, injecting “unbiblical” or “unchristian” can shut down a conversation that otherwise has potential for understanding and deepening relationship. Christ followers, called to love neighbor can ill-afford the use of ideographs.

We might challenge one another to move away from inciting tweets and self-righteous rants and from a discourse rooted in the sharing of memes and surface level connection to joyful and meaningful conversations.
Holleman, Heather. The Six Conversations (pp. 15-16)

Much to think about, words matter.

So Much To Think About

George October 12, 2022 Notes Anthology 0 Comments

Fruit of the Spirit
The last “fruit” is “self-control” or engkrateia, something like an internal monitor or compass or control button, the ability to grasp oneself to do the right thing and not do what one might desire to do.

There are two systems in the mind: System 1 is “automatic, quick, and reactive.” System 2 “requires focused attention and effortful mental engagement.” Quick study vs. slow thinking. There’s a time and place for each. Life in System 1 is dangerous and reckless and impulsive. Self-control knows the difference and guides us to the right one. System 2 conquers impulsiveness.

Will power is not enough.

We need the Spirit. To pause long enough to invoke the Spirit, to turn to God, and to God’s ways. The pause is space for the Spirit to take over.
And a wise mind that knows the differences between important and urgent, important and not urgent, not important and urgent, and not important and not urgent (The Eisenhower Matrix).
Scot McKnight

View from the front porch:
Houston?, I’ve got a problem!
…when he reads…yawns plenty and easily falls into sleep. He rubs his eyes and stretches his arms. His eyes wander from the book. He stares at the wall and then goes back to his reading for a little. He then wastes his time hanging on to the end of words, counts the pages, ascertains how the book is made, finds fault with the writing and the design. Finally he just shuts it and uses it as a pillow. Then he falls into a sleep not too deep, because hunger wakes his soul up and he begins to concern himself with that.
Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life, Kathleen Norris (p. 5)
The greatest test of faith comes when we encounter circumstances beyond our control. These days are such times. With the pandemic, followed by a serious medical trauma I have found myself floundering, struggling; unable to manage life as previously (not to imply I was managing successfully, but at least I had the comfort of an illusion that I was). Despite the fact I had written about it in the past; I have failed to recognize my struggle is with my besetting sin— acedia. We all have besetting sins,

In the life of every individual, there is a “besetting” sin that can tower like a mountain between the individual and God.
A besetting sin is one to which on account of our constitution, or circumstance or both, we are peculiarly exposed, and into which we most easily and most frequently fall.

… for me it is acedia; for which my sin management tool box is insufficient.
This battle is not about salvation from eternal damnation, it is about overcoming sin that robs us of God’s presence and power that enables us to live as His people in His kingdom on earth now. Acedia, one writer says, is best defined as the opposite of “spiritual joy”.

Acedia is to spiritual health something like what depression is to mental health.
https://jamesgray2.me/2015/10/15/acedia-or-the-last-but-not-least-of-deadly-sins/

It’s an ancient term signifying profound indifference and inability to care about things that matter, even to the extent that you no longer care that you can’t care.
I liken it to spiritual morphine: You know the pain is there but can’t rouse yourself to give a damn.
When I compared the classic descriptions of acedia with the plagues of contemporary society — a toxic, nearly unbearable mix of boredom and restlessness, frantic escapism (including that of workaholism), commitment-phobia and enervating despair — I found the ancient demon of acedia in modern dress.
Kathleen Norris

Symptoms of acedia, lethargy, apathy, hopelessness reveal its sinful core. They demonstrate the erosion of our confidence, faith.. trust that God will keep his word. Acedia is not a momentary lapse, it is cancerous. We are inclined to ignore symptoms allowing it to grow and diminish our faith.
I mostly think of sin as a discrete problem… an error in judgement …an unkind word or action which quickly produces regret and shame. Acedia is different, It does not produce guilt, regret or shame, rather self-pity and lament for being victimized by “it”or “them”.
… my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Ps 73

I’ve got a lot to think about.

STILL ON THE JOURNEY

So Much To Think About

George October 10, 2022 Notes Anthology 0 Comments

I believe our lives are a journey. A healthy life is characterized by growth and change. Each day holds the prospect of adventure and discovery. Life is not defined by seeking a safe place and hunkering down insulated and protected from the world around us.

Change continues to be important in my life. As I grow older, change is less attractive and more difficult. I struggle daily to resist the inclination to hunker down. In that regard, one small change I have decided to make relates to “So Much To Think About” posts. You may have noticed I deviated from Friday posting. This and future posts will come randomly. reflecting the rhythm of my reading and daily life. Content will be less, but, hopefully interesting and worthy of your attention. I would appreciate your feedback.

The Church as a moral witness
Generally, we expect the church to be a moral witness. That is, we expect Christians should be “better” than non-Christians. And when Christians are not any better than most people, we despair and chuck the whole business. Our metric of success is wholly moral.
But let me simply observe, as a regular church goer, that the people gathered on a typical Sunday morning are just normal people. Church people have the same sorts of problems as everyone else. And they are sinners just like everyone else.
We know this about ourselves, that we are sinners, yet we keep getting disappointed. What should be expected–our moral failures–keeps surprising us. Over and over. Why? I think it’s our stubborn moral framing of the church, that church people should be “better.”
But if we’re not any better than other folks what then is church all about?
The church, to borrow that line from the Catholics, is “a sacrament of salvation.” Yet I mean this differently than extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. What I mean by “a sacrament of salvation” is that the gathered church makes salvation visible.
The gathered church isn’t a moral witness–How could it be?–but a sacramental witness. We gather to make visible the salvation of God in our midst. This is how a depraved, broken, and lost people can gather together on a Sunday and be called “the church.” These gathered sinners simply point to the reality of grace. Our moral portfolio is abysmal, but in our worship, prayers, liturgies, and testimonies we make visible the love of God, in our lives and in the midst of the world. “Grace exists,” our presence declares. And we make this declaration not only for ourselves, but for the world as well.
If this is so, “the church” simply is this sacramental witness. Which means “the church” doesn’t point to the moral performance of human beings. Rather, the “the church” is a gathered group of sinners who come together to point toward the grace of God. We sinners gather to bear witness to grace, and it’s toward grace where we must direct our gaze.
Richard Beck
http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2022/10/despairing-for-church-part-5-sacrament.html

Sympathy vs Compassion
I believe the problem today can be summed up simply: people mistake sympathy for compassion.
Sympathy is feeling bad for someone and wishing they didn’t feel so bad.

Sympathy is noble on the surface (“people should suffer less!”) but can often end up being subtly self-serving (“people should suffer less because I don’t want to feel bad for them anymore.”)

Compassion is similar to sympathy but different in an important way.
Like sympathy, compassion begins with feeling bad for someone. But instead of simply wanting the person’s suffering to go away, compassion involves someone who is willing to suffer alongside that person so that they may overcome their challenges.

Sympathy is sending flowers and a card to a friend when a parent dies. Compassion is driving to their house and holding them as they cry.

Sympathy is letting a screaming child have that toy they want so they’ll stop screaming. Compassion is letting them cry because you know they will be better off once they understand that they can’t always get what they want.

Sympathy is changing your profile picture on social media for whatever the new cause du jour is. Compassion is actually giving time or money to victims, listening to their stories, helping them rebuild their lives.

Sympathy is a good thing. We need it in the world. But it’s also easy. It’s short-term and short-sighted. It’s an, “Aw, I feel bad for him.” Sympathy is focused on the feeling rather than the person. “I hope they feel better.”

Compassion is about the person. “I don’t just hope they feel better, I hope they become better.” Therefore, compassion is more involved. It takes more effort—both mental and emotional.

Sympathy is trying to remove as much strain and struggle as possible. Compassion is trying to help a person move through a manageable amount of struggle so they can grow into a better person.

I believe that as a culture we’re over-optimized for sympathy and under-optimized for compassion. This is probably largely social media’s fault, but not entirely.

Sympathy is easy to communicate online. It’s also easy to see sympathy communicated between others. Compassion is like sarcasm, it is not communicated well online. It’s also harder to recognize between others.
We’re probably also over-optimized for sympathy because it’s easier to measure and study. It’s relatively easy to measure how good/bad a person feels. It’s incredibly difficult to measure whether someone has grown or not.
Mark Manson

Wendy Wasserstein wrote in her book “Sloth,” “When you achieve true slothdom, you have no desire for the world to change. … Better to fall into line than to question the going ethos.”

STILL ON THE JOURNEY